The Pink Pig & Santa

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on since I was out of town, so here we go...
Last Thursday we had our annual trip to Atlanta to ride the Pink Pig and see Santa Claus.  The girls, especially Cohen, had been asking when we were going to go.  We were running a little later than usual this year but it was fine.  We left Thursday afternoon and when we got to the mall we got our tickets for the Pink Pig.  There wasn't a long line at all so we didn't have to wait.  Afterwards we went to see Santa but unfortunately he was about to take a break when we got there, so we decided to do a little shopping until he came back.  When he did come back we did have a wait for him but it wasn't too terribly bad.  Cohen had told me she wasn't wanting to sit with him, just like she always does, but I reminded her she would get a cookie after she sat with him and that he really wanted to know what she wanted.  She kept telling me surprises so I'm pretty sure that's what she told him too.  Kate ran right up to him and got right in his lap.  She wouldn't smile very big but she sat there so sweet and we kept laughing at her "half" smile.  They were in a deep conversation about something :)  Once we finished with Santa we left the mall and headed to dinner.  This was my favorite part of the night because we were meeting my friend Betsie and her sweet family.  Betsie had twins back in March and I had not seen them in person so I was so excited to meet sweet Jack and Andrew.  They were precious and I cannot believe I didn't take a picture!  It was so much fun catching up with Dave and Betsie too.  It had been way too long.  I think we have a good tradition to keep up!  It was such a fun night for all of us! I love Christmas and all the fun traditions we have started with our girls and friends.

Riding with my sweet girl

It was a little chilly while I tried to take a picture

Waiting for Santa

Happy Birthday Kelly!

Yesterday we celebrated Kelly's birthday!!  We love birthdays in our house only because it gives us a reason to have a party.  This year we rented out the bowling alley at Emmanuel College so we could have a bowling party.  Kelly wanted to do this over anything so we did!  It is a very nice place to have a party or just to go bowling, so I highly recommend it.  It is great for the kids too!  Papa Johns is inside the building and they are great to work with.  We had a blast bowling and eating pizza, and most importantly Kelly loved it.  We will definitely be doing it again I'm sure!  You would never know by the pictures that it was Kelly's birthday...somehow the kids are always the focus point :)

Happy Birthday Daddy...got to love that new hat!!

Kate & Addison had fun dancing...who needs bowling balls!

Kate loves Elliott, even when she is giving him tough love!

Be scared! 

Addison was trying to give Kate some love

Kate figured out that air blew out of the ball holder and voila! a new place to sit/lay

Going after Elliott again! He's a good sport!

Cohen's Choir Musical

Last Sunday was Cohen's choir musical at church.  We have been listening to these songs for months now.  They were really good songs and these kids have all worked really hard.  They did a great job too!  The musical was "The Light Has Come".  It was a birthday party for Jesus.  This fall was Cohen's first year in the "big" choir.  She was in the preschool choir before.  This meant she would sing all the songs and she and Savannah sang a solo/duet together.  They sounded so sweet.  I could have cried watching my baby sing, especially when you stop and think about the true meaning behind the song they are singing.  It was precious to watch and she loves to sing!

Singing their solo

Kate & Addison just loved on each other during the musical

She was so happy Brock was there to watch her

& excited Jessica was there too! 

Best Friends!  Cohen & Josie

Afterwards there was another show to watch...Kate & Autumn had some fun with the balloons that were used for the decorations.  These 2 were tackling the balloons like little balloon wrestlers.  It was hilarious, especially since their hair was sticking up everywhere.  Then they found out the balloons would float a little in the air and that was really fascinating!  It was a sight to see.  Kate loved her balloons so much that they came home with us and had to be in the bed with her that night.  Of course they were down by morning and she kept saying to me "won't work mama, not foat".   Precious baby girl!

They were all into getting these balloons!

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Going home with balloons!

Sleeping with the balloons

Lavonia Christmas Parade

Sunday was the Lavonia Christmas parade and Cohen was in it with her Baton/dance studio.  She was real excited about the parade and even asked if they would be wearing their costumes, but I had to remind her that in the parade they wore their dance sweatshirts.  The exciting part was that this year she would be marching and twirling because she was 5.  Last year she rode in the truck and loved it and was a little disappointed that she wouldn't get to throw out candy but she handled it ok.  She did ask me several times if I thought she would be able to walk that long ways and I assured her it wasn't as long as it looked but I was a little worried about her tiring out.  She did great though!  We were towards the end of the route and when she got to us we yelled her name and waved and she gave us a quick (wide-eyed) wave and then was back to concentrating hard on her twirling routine and keeping up.  We got a kick out of that.  She was definitely "in the zone".   We pulled her out a little past where we stood and she got to watch the end of the parade and join in the candy collecting.  She liked that and her only complaint was that her wrist was tired.  I bet so!
Kate absolutely loved the parade!  She found out real quick that everyone throws candy out and she was so excited.  She started a little pile on her stroller and squealed with excitement when she found a sucker, or tootsie roll.  I'll store these in the candy pile that I use for rewards when she potties, which has not been a lot here lately.  It was precious watching her wave to everyone though.  She was really fascinated.  It turned out to be a great day for a parade too.  I love the start of the Christmas season and all the activities that come along with it!

Kate and her candy stash

Waving at the parade

It took a minute to find Cohen so I didn't really get any good pictures...not to mention she glanced our way for approximately 1 second.

Focused 

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year!  As always we ate and ate and ate some more, but it was all so delicious.  I'm wishing we had Thanksgiving more often!  We started our day at Suzy's house for lunch.  We ate and talked with everyone and of course took lots of pictures.  We always take a lot of pictures at Thanksgiving since everyone is all together.  Mid afternoon we packed up and went over to my Aunt Ann's and Uncle Tommy's.  This was the first year some of us had all got together for Thanksgiving and we really enjoyed it.  I love being with my family!  We don't get together near as much as I would like because everyone stays busy but when we are together I enjoy it so much.  We always say we are going to try to get together more and stay in touch more because we do all live so close together so maybe next year we will get even better at it!  And if we can have more of that delicious fried turkey, well then that works out good too :)
We had to pack up around 6:30 and head to our last stop which was Nana's house in Athens.  We always spend the night with Nana.  We had more yummy food at Nana's!  Around 10:30 Suzy and Jessica came to Nana's to pick me up to go out for some shopping.  We have a shopping tradition and with everything opening early this year we didn't have to go to bed, we just went later at night.  My cousin Kasey met us at Target and we managed to accomplish a good bit of shopping.  Kasey and I lasted a little longer than Suzy and Jessica :)  She dropped me off at Nana's when we were finished and I crawled in bed!  It was a great day!
I only took pictures at Suzy's house, but I'm sure these are enough!

Mama with all her grandbabies

Love my boys!

Our whole family!

Auntie P with her princesses

love my sissy

Oh how I love this man!

The youngest babies in the family right now